Eyes-on Sonic Unleashed

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SEGA's newest Hedgehog effort recaptures the speed and spirit of the classic games.

By Matt Casamassina

Sonic the Hedgehog fans have survived for too long on a diet of mediocre sequels with clumsy controls and broken cameras -- a selection of games conducted to a catastrophic symphony with 2006's PS3 / Xbox 360 title Sonic the Hedgehog. But there is finally a light at the end of the long tunnel, and it's a bright one. At its Gamer's Day event in San Francisco on Wednesday, SEGA showed off an updated demo of Sonic Unleashed, a project powered by a proprietary new 3D engine, a great sense of style and uncharacteristic polish for the formerly slumbering series. Having watched SEGA reps zip through two beautiful looking stages filled with classic 2D-esque loops and corkscrews in addition to fully 3D cities, we can optimistically state that Sonic is finally back.

Unleashed is being developed for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by Sonic Team, but it's got a new team leader. Yoshihisa Hashimoto, who joined Sonic Team fresh out of college years ago and contributed to the development of the Adventure titles, is piloting this lest entry in the series and he's hoping to return the hedgehog to his former glory. To that end, Sonic Team has spent the last three years developing a new 3D architecture, unsurprisingly dubbed "Hedgehog Engine," which enables the studio to realize a more realistic world that quickly loads in crispy clean new textures and enables seamless transitions between 2D and 3D perspectives as SEGA's mascot blazes a path. Although Sonic Team is solely responsible for the PS3 and 360 versions of the title, software house Dimps is providing backup support with daytime level designs for the Wii and PS2 versions.

Unfortunately, SEGA did not show the Wii build of the title, but it did demo two stages from the Xbox 360 iteration -- one set in Greece and another more vaguely somewhere in Europe, according to the publisher. As you will see in the new screenshots we've provided, Unleashed boasts a slick visual style that marries realistic backdrops with the cartoonish characters from the Hedgehog universe. The presentation is held together by great art and strong technique -- Sonic himself is well rounded, features self-shadowing, and is surrounded by motion blur as he dashes through the cobblestone streets, wooden twists and turns, rooftops and railways. There's bloom lighting. Depth of field blur. The texture work is impressive at points and blurry others -- something you will also be able to see in screens, which showcase defined brickwork and bumpy architectural walls as well as the occasional smeary rock or grass formation. Even with a few graphic blemishes, Unleashed is still the best looking Sonic game ever created.

Loops, corkscrews, bumpers, rails -- they're all back in full force.

Both of the two stages previewed remain in pre-alpha stage -- Greece being roughly 80% complete and Europe about 60% finished. Even so, both areas show a lot of promise. Sonic is controlled through the locales with the left analog stick, while the right stick is used to maneuver the camera. Pressing the X button will trigger Sonic's temporary speed boost, which looks spectacular. The hedgehog blasts forward, a subtle fisheye view kicks in and, naturally, the entire effect is surrounded by motion blur. The A button makes the character jump and you can target and dash into enemies mid-air by tapping the X button. The lock-on system seems a little friendlier than in previous titles since the camera follows the action much more coherently. The B button sends Sonic into a slide and the right and left bumpers execute the all-new side-step maneuvers -- Sonic can very quickly dodge left or right to avoid quickly advancing enemies and obstacles. The side-step is also extremely useful when rail-grinding, as the mascot can hop from one rail to the other effortlessly.

Also new to Unleashed is the speed drift, which was demonstrated once or twice during the presentation. As Sonic rounds loose turns, he can go into a stylistic drift, sliding intuitively around corners as a car might in your favorite racing game. There's a believable sense of weight and momentum to the character when he's drifting and the potential for some very skillful and entertaining maneuvers is definitely there, but we'll want to try out the drifting for ourselves before we give the inclusion the thumbs up or down. As it stands, Sonic Team hasn't even yet fully decided how it wants to implement the feature. When we asked for a control breakdown for the mechanic, a rep told us that the company was still finalizing it.

The game features a very clean, crisp look.

Although Hashimoto has said that Unleashed is not based on any previous Sonic property, the 2006 360 / PS3 misstep or the much better Wii game, Sonic and the Secret Rings, the title certainly seems to share some fundamentals with the latter. Sonic races forward, crashing through chairs and tables and it's up to you to keep him moving, dodging walls and following tight paths, which zigzag up, down, left and right, lead to ledges and bumpers, jumps and tracks, and ultimately to a dozens of loops and corkscrews. Like Secret Rings, the camera is largely automatic, following Sonic as he speeds along, but Unleashed's camera is much more dynamic, pulling back and zooming forward when necessary and, more impressive, flipping around so that a 3D level is shot from another perspective, simulating a classic 2D presentation. These 2D-like areas are more commonplace than you might think, comprising good chunks of both stages shown to us -- so if you've been craving a return to traditional form, we think you will be happy with the throwback, even with its 3D twist.